Agreed, he is smart enough to know releasing such things anonymously is the safer way to go but his ego got the best of him so now as you said he will have to face whatever legal consequences are involved.

I still think in the end Sony won't be able to prove their IP case and GeoHot will win, but they may win the extortion part... time will tell. Apparently the GeoHot trial got Federal Judge Susan Illston: news.cnet.com/Judge-DVD-copying-software-is-illegal/2100-1025_3-5162749.html

Also, please don't submit new articles on this as we only delete them as dupes. We will create a new thread/article when a court verdict on his case is in... until then, all updates are being added to this ongoing thread for discussion.

100% in agreement in that we need to remain anonymous in this time. Honestly, with these kinds of things, I don't see how it can be so different to release with your real name, a nick, or no nick (iND, other shit).

I think Geohot may have done it once (iPhone jailbreak), obviously his nick revealing enough of his real name, and he said it multiple times. Nothing bad happened to him as a result. He assumed he was untouchable. It does not work like that!

Even those with nicks in the various scenes have thought they were untouchable, using multiple levels of security, both technological and mind (meaning YOU determine if the person is safe or a hazard; not just the fact that they got past your SHA256 handshake).

I don't see how Geohot didn't see this coming, or the fail0verflow team. They were broadcast were on the Internet. It was a good show and I'm sure LOTS of people enjoyed it. I know I did. I also felt like Sony will do something and that Sony was in that audience just to see.

Anybody know real names on Team XeLove? How about for Team Jungle? The answer is no.

Wii-hacking teams/people and others revealing real names is an anomaly. I don't expect it to last long.

Agreed very sad, he had innocent intent. After all I can't logically blame someone who made a wrench that was used by somebody to commit a crime. If I started doing circular logic like that, them all technology, no matter what good it has done, must be obliterated from the face of the planet on the offset chance it may be used for evil.

Example: As a judge, would you not have to ignore the part forbidding cruel and unusual punishment just to remove the possibility of a second offense. So in theory, if a person robbed a bank and made a phone call during the crime, Then the cell phone company is responsible for the crime and the suspect can never use a phone again. That seems Like it should be illegal to sentence people to those kinds of punishment for the obvious reason! A phone is required for any legal contact info for employment or to establish residency of a civilian. And to blame the phone company would be equally stupid and unfounded!

Geohot is in hot water now but he did not really hack any TDMs. He just got a lot of credit for it. The Russian guys hacked it at about the same time the chinese hackers did. Geohot was given credit for the root keys even though evidence proves otherwise. Lets hope they settle out of court as this will only cost the people who's taxes pay for them to quick and speedy.

Long trials cost the people money so "plea agreements" and "out of court settlements" are necessary to keep it from getting bogged down and eventually dyeing. This case could take a year or more in the end. I sure hope the charges are dropped in exchange for him agreeing not to sue $0ny! I wish him the best as he did not enable piracy at all, and in fact took steps to prevent it.

I am giving a talk (stevens.edu/compsci/about/seminars/single_seminar.php?news_events_id=2564&CS-Department-Seminar:-George-Hotz) at Stevens Institute of Technology on Monday, but had to remove the PS3 portions, thanks to the TRO

The portions covered how PS3 security was broken, and more importantly how to fix it (lawsuit free of course)

Note to Sony: It's apparent you don't care about your reputation with consumers, and I can almost understand your point there. Few people consider buying a TV or laptop a moral choice, and the consumer base is quite large.

But talented developers are in much shorter supply, and take it from one personally, who you choose to code for is much more of a moral choice. The programmers you will one day be looking to hire are the ones reading the tech news sites right now. And they will remember.

He may be right, but it sounds like another threat at the same time... not sure on his logic, although hopefully they won't try to use it against him.

GeoHot's lawyers are now filing a motion to dismiss the TRO as well... see the attached documents below.

Hon. Susan Illston has denied Sony's request for expedited discovery. A hearing on SCEA’s Motion is now scheduled on March 11, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. As a result, Sony cannot send out any of the subpoenas mentioned in our previous article (Sony Expanding It's Case - Looking For All PS3 Hackers).

On Thursday, there will be a hearing on the Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) which was previously granted without a hearing.

If a hearing is not held by February 10, 2011, Mr. Hotz will be forced to surrender his storage devices to Plaintiff SCEA, and will continue to be restrained, without a hearing or consideration of the substance of the TRO Order. A hearing is also needed so that Mr. Hotz may limit the breadth and vagueness of the TRO.

PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz must allow console-maker Sony to comb through his computer’s hard drive and retrieve information “that relates to the hacking of the PlayStation,” a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s ruled from the bench in Sony’s ongoing legal action against the New Jersey hacker, who goes by GeoHot. The lawsuit is in connection to the 21-year-old being the first to fully hack the 4-year-old console, a jailbreak allowing it to play pirated and home-brewed games.

Hotz posted the code on his website last month, and put a how-to video on YouTube. That landed him in court here on Digital Millennium Copyright Act civil allegations. Among other things, Sony accuses him of trafficking in devices that circumvent controls meant to protect copyrighted works.

In the Thursday hearing, Hotz’ attorney, Stewart Kellar, objected to the judge’s bench order, saying Sony would be able to “observe” the contents of all his client’s files.

“That’s the breaks,” Illston said.

Hotz has already removed the YouTube video and the code from his website to comport with the judge’s earlier orders.

The judge had originally ruled weeks ago that Hotz must surrender all of his computer gear to Sony. But Kellar asked for reconsideration, and a hearing was hastily called Thursday

Illston informed Kellar that it was routine for the entire contents of computers to be searched in a bid to isolate what is being sought, as in child pornography prosecutions.

“Here, I find probable cause that your client has got these things on his computer,” she said. “It’s a problem when more than one thing is kept on the computer. I’ll make sure the order is and will be that Sony is only entitled to isolate … the information on the computer that relates to the hacking of the PlayStation.”

The DMCA makes it either a civil or criminal offense to traffic in wares meant to circumvent devices protecting copyrighted works. Performing a similar hack on a mobile phone is lawful.

Sony’s attorney, James Gilliland, was quick to point out to Illston that the mobile phone is not at issue here. “The conduct Mr. Hotz has engaged in is still covered by the DMCA,” he said.

The judge also backed off on an order that Hotz “retrieve” the code from anybody who he may have forwarded it to.

“It’s information. It can’t be retrieved. It’s just not practical,” Illston said. “What would they do, Xerox it and mail it back? ”

Illston said she changed her mind because she was not clearly aware of the details in her earlier order.

“This kind of got away from me and I apologize for that,” she said from the bench.

The judge ordered Sony and Kellar to confer with each other on the parameters of where and when Hotz would allow Sony to sift through his computer. She also ordered him not to delete or modify any files connected to the jailbreak.

Meanwhile, Sony is threatening to sue anybody posting the code, even though Sony accidentally tweeted it earlier this week.

Sony’s attorney, Gilliland, said the Japanese console maker has been sending out an undisclosed number of DMCA “takedown” notices to websites demanding the code’s removal.

Sony is also asking Judge Illston to order Google to surrender the IP addresses and other identifying information of those who have viewed or commented about the jailbreak video on Hotz’ private YouTube page. The game maker is also demanding that Twitter provide the identities of a host of hackers who first unveiled a limited version of the hack in December.

A hearing on that is scheduled next month. Sony is seeking unspecified damages.

Another update from PS3 hacker GeoHot's site, this time with a parody video which has received over 1 million views thus far for The Light It Up Contest featuring GeoHot rapping and daring Sony to exhibit it.

Pictured below, if you check the properties of the MP3 download you will notice what appear to be PS3 file offsets despite some speculating they may be 3.56 Keys.

The video is below, and from his page:

I am subject to the TRO
But they ain't copping my computers
The dongle key tweet was mad funny... can't link to it

Apparently linking to the official PlayStation Blog, referred to as "a site", is a desire to continue circumventing (see this page 4,11)

I'm amazed they would actually bring that up and not be laughed out of court... free speech is dead
It clearly was to parody (protected speech) the ridiculousness of the campaign to censor the internet
Can anyone really not find the metldr key?